Hope for Restoration

35 Even the wilderness and desert will be glad in those days.The wasteland will rejoice and blossom with spring crocuses.2 Yes, there will be an abundance of flowersand singing and joy!The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon,as lovely as Mount Carmel or the plain of Sharon.There the Lord will display his glory,the splendor of our God.3 With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands,and encourage those who have weak knees.4 Say to those with fearful hearts,“Be strong, and do not fear,for your God is coming to destroy your enemies.He is coming to save you.”

5 And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blindand unplug the ears of the deaf.6 The lame will leap like a deer,and those who cannot speak will sing for joy!Springs will gush forth in the wilderness,and streams will water the wasteland.7 The parched ground will become a pool,and springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land.Marsh grass and reeds and rushes will flourishwhere desert jackals once lived.

8 And a great road will go through that once deserted land.It will be named the Highway of Holiness.Evil-minded people will never travel on it.It will be only for those who walk in God’s ways;fools will never walk there.9 Lions will not lurk along its course,nor any other ferocious beasts.There will be no other dangers.Only the redeemed will walk on it.10 Those who have been ransomed by the Lord will return.They will enter Jerusalem[a] singing,crowned with everlasting joy.Sorrow and mourning will disappear,and they will be filled with joy and gladness.

But joyful are those who have the God of Israel[a] as their helper,whose hope is in the Lord their God.6 He made heaven and earth,the sea, and everything in them.He keeps every promise forever.7 He gives justice to the oppressedand food to the hungry.The Lord frees the prisoners.8 The Lord opens the eyes of the blind.The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down.The Lord loves the godly.9 The Lord protects the foreigners among us.He cares for the orphans and widows,but he frustrates the plans of the wicked.

10 The Lord will reign forever.He will be your God, O Jerusalem,[b] throughout the generations.

2 John the Baptist, who was in prison, heard about all the things the Messiah was doing. So he sent his disciples to ask Jesus,3 “Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting,[a] or should we keep looking for someone else?”

4 Jesus told them, “Go back to John and tell him what you have heard and seen—5 the blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.”6 And he added, “God blesses those who do not fall away because of me.[b]”

7 As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began talking about him to the crowds. “What kind of man did you go into the wilderness to see? Was he a weak reed, swayed by every breath of wind?8 Or were you expecting to see a man dressed in expensive clothes? No, people with expensive clothes live in palaces.9 Were you looking for a prophet? Yes, and he is more than a prophet.10 John is the man to whom the Scriptures refer when they say,

‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,and he will prepare your way before you.’[c]

11 “I tell you the truth, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John the Baptist. Yet even the least person in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he is!